My new shoes

[oscar]

Seeing a few threads on rims n tyres I remembered I forgot to brag about my new shoes.  Back in May I bought a set of 16x8 & 16x9 Remotec basketweave rims (made in Germany).  PO had them on a 450se which suffered terminal engine damage and subsequent scrapping.  Only issue was with one rear tyre which suffered major abnormal wear in the middle of the tread following the effect of sustained single spinner burnouts.  I suppose that's the only good thing about open diffs, you'll usually only wreck one tyre.  Anyhow, that rim's in the shop for a replacement.

I forgot the offsets, I'll check next time I've got them off but they're deep dish and IMO look superb.  They're not to everyone's liking but I love the fat tyres and the impressive rims.  Even if the 350's underpowered to do damage, they're surefooted and ride really well.  Perhaps some slight tramlining I'll admit but nothing that's bothered me.
Tyres are;
front - 225/50/16 Falken Digneo.
rear - 235/50/16 Pirelli P6000
The P6000 replacement will cost $380 but considering I was only after the rims to begin with and initial layout was $350, it's still a bargain and the tread on the other tyres is excellent with minimal wear.

[Big_Richard]

nice, I like those wheels 

[oscar]

I knew you had good taste.  You've got my vote 

[Mforcer]

I really like those rims too.

Before I bought my AMG disc wheels I was considering a set of basket weave BBS rims which were amazingly light weight. Not that I have any regrets with my choice but I have always liked the basket weaves. I just don't think a photo does them justice when on the car.

[oscar]

You're dead right.  The photo of them fitted isn't crash hot but in the metal they look fantastic and you get a better view of the deep dish aspect of them.  From behind, the car looks more muscle bound than it really is too.  It reminds me of the view behind a 6.9 107 conversion that had, I think from memory, deep dish pentas like the 109 6.3 racer.  Anyhow the tyres were fat, made it look like a dragster from behind.

[TJ 450]

I'm sure they're not to everyone's taste, but I like them. They look to be in great condition too.

Tim

[nathan]

U know u want to leave the rim silver and paint the wheels white - very retro!

[KenM]

Oscar they're the goods, very nice, would be interested to find out what offset so I can look for something similar, a little suspension drop as well perhaps and you will have a pretty hot street machine there.

Ken

[oscar]

I don't think I'll modify or paint em.  I'd consider a makeover if there were a heap of scratches and paint missing but they're too good to mess with.

Ken, the rise at the back peeves me.   The sls valve only pumps up, to a point, and although I've got a good replacement that's attached to a wreck I just haven't got round to doing the swap.  I've never seen these rims before but there are a number of basket weave patterned rims I've seen on pics of peoples cars.  Fondmetal, Rial but BBS like Mforcer mentioned are probably the most likely ones you'll see come up for sale.  I'd love to know the history behind these given that the rears are different and made to fit a 5/112 pattern.  But I think if supplied blank, any pattern could've been drilled into the hub section. I doubt they were specifically made for merc. I don't know, but when I find out the offsets I'll take a pic of the hub bit to show how there's plenty of room to drill whatever fitment pattern was required.

[s class]

Ah, I like it very much Oscar.  Way cool. 

[oscar]

Ken, exact rim sizes are 8x16 ET23 for fronts and 9x16 ET14 for the rears. 

Bad news is that they couldn't find a matching tyre, used or new.  Pirelli don't make that size anymore nor do any other manufacturers that Bob Jane deals with.  Actually, checking tirerack.com, they don't even have anything in that size.  I'll be able to go to 245/50 no probs, even 255.  Bit of overkill, but point is there are still some options for later.

[Yesmar]

your car looks great. and those wheels just set it off.

[craigb]

Just a thought on tyres Oscar, not sure how many miles you want to get out of a tyre and how much you want to throw it around, but I have been super impressed with the Khumo KU36 on my 500 SEC. They are about $150 for 225/50/16 from a place in Queensland 'something' one, you will find it with a google and freight wasn't much. Khumo list price direct is something like double that. But the grip is something else from a $150 tyre and people who have sprinted on them and know their car compared to proper r spec reckon they are only very slightly lower in lap time but have good deep tread and are not bad in the wet at all, even playing with the 500 to see when it would let go. I haven't done a heap of miles on them though and I kind of guess that anything that grips this good is not going to be the longest life tyre.

But it just sprung to mind when you mentioned the price of the Pirelli, you would get a pair of these including freight and still might get a carton of beer - maybe lights!

And nice looking wheels. Not sure if I said but I found out my car had similar BBS RA on it when it first came to Australia and had the basket weave bit done in the body midnight blue. Love my pentas but have kept one eye open for a set of BBS.

[s class]

I really dig Oscar's basket-weaves, so I hope this doesn't detract too much from his thread, but I've also scored some wheels I've been searching for for a while.  A Lorinser stepped set off a Lorinser Widebody SEC...  They're a bit rough at the moment, but I dig the 1980's deep dish look, and it doesn't get much better than this.  8Jx16et23 and 9Jx16et11.  I'm a happy chappy. 





The rears look a bit under-tyred with 225's at the moment.  I'll be looking for 245's when the time comes.   

[oscar]

Thanks yesmar 

Thanks for that info Craig.  Those prices and that tyre would be perfect for what I'm doing and then some, considering it's just a few km to work and back.  My local tyre guy wont get his nose out of joint if I source tyres elsewhere, particularly when it comes to tyres they don't regularly sell.

Great work sclass      Photos don't really bring up the 3 dimensional aspect of deep dish IMO but they look great in the metal.  I have seen these rims at a show on a w126 back in '06.  Pure muscle car look IMO.  You'll have no probs with 245s and man they will look good too.